OK, so in the end curiosity got the upper end on me and I requested a demo RF01 Pro from TWE.
Yesterday evening I hit with it for 1 hour (warm-up + 1 tight set + 1 TB). Here it comes my review - for those who are interested.
Well, for sure it is beautiful - beyond that, it has been a nice and strange experience. I tested it primarily to compare it with my customized Blade of use and my RF97A.
Please keep in mind I had tweaked my 18x20 Blades to move them into the ProStaff direction: much weight underneath the grip to make it more HL, leather grip, lead at 3/9 to make it more stable and emulate PWS (total: 320+g unstrung.)
The racquet comes with a new OG and a slick poly stringbed (don't know the brand/model). When holding it, it feels weird: it looks like some sort of Babolat crap: large and round profile, lightweighted (but it's 320g unstrung!).
Its 98sq'' hoop oddly would look smaller that RF97A 97sq''.
Feel: I hit with it and it does not feel that different from my tweaked Blade; maybe it flies more smoothly through the air, but definitely the ball contact is solid and slightly reminds of when using any "real" ProStaff. Maybe it is the stuffing, but by how it looks you would expect a typical hollow feeling upon making contact with the ball. Instead, it works. Being 16x19, there is more pocketing effect compared to my 18x20, so a couple of volleys come out fine, while demi-volleys are definitely a beuty. In the end: it looks a hollow racket, but it ain't. The handle shape feels more like ProStaff (the best in the business with me!!!) than Blade, which is good for me in general and my OHBH specifically. Upon impact, it feels more ProStaff, while upon impact at the net, it feels very ProStaff-ish.
Power: again, maybe it is the string pattern, maybe the shape cutting through the air, but power is there if you push foward, and you may play do some damage if you push it hard. No free power though: sometime I think that I cannot finish points if I don't slam it with full force, which is something I have to do with the Blade as well, while not too much with the RF97A. Serve is a joy, since the frame again moves around very quickly, and the open pattern enables more rotation (hence spin) and the ball looks a little faster.
Control: from a "hollow crap" lookalike you would expect none, but in fact it is quite precise and volleys may be put away quite easily, thanks to the holy HL balance which allows you to wipe your racket and still know where it actually is in the air. Maybe it is the odd shape of the throat, with all those steps, enabling better feedback. Please note I was not using my hybrid Kirschbaum stringbed, instead it was something of an unknown poly combination, but I could easily place the ball where I wanted. I played one drop-shot from behind the baseline with my backhand and it was a candy - inch-perfect! Maybe is the dense sweetspot pattern...
Now, the reason why I had left the 16x19 setups in favour of 18x20 was to abandon a kamikaze approach to the match (i.e. hitting with full force as soon as you get half of a chance, because you know it will break the wall), in favour of a more rational strategy based on accurate ball placement. I am afraid returning to 16x19 with its simple access to hard-hitting and spin is too tempting and you end up trying to finish off the point when it would be not yet the most appropriate moment.
Note on PJ: I received this demo in cosmetically perfect conditions, but after only one hour of playing I found two small white spots, as if a small chipping of paint had happened - quite weird.
BOTTOMLINE!
Incredibly similar to my tweaked Blade and an RF97A, despite its shape looking more like an APD - maybe gravitating closer to the Blade.
Indeed I get better access to push, pocketing, and spin, at the apparent expense of some placement precision, but I guess I would end up with the same trade if I duly switched to an equally tweaked 16x19 Blade...
However, all in all a great product, which does weight 320g (like a Head Prestige), but does not feel like that. Suitable for competitive tennis, one has anyway to carefully play with strings to achieve the desired control vs power/spin balance. Oh, and outside of the sweetspot it is not forgiving at all. One-hander and all-round players should definitely give it a shot. I think Wilson was able to design a new, versatile stick which takes advantage of latest material solutions to achieve a combination of features which previously had to be necessrily traded off.
One caveat: my opponent was another all-attack guy and we were playing in mildly cold conditions, hence all rallies were short and hard.
On Saturday morning I am hitting 2 hours with a left-handed retriever: let's see if I can better playing tactical tennis with this girl...